Welcome!

I am an award-winning political economist with almost two decades of research and work experience in nine countries.

I earned my Ph.D. from The University of British Columbia. My dissertation, Marxism Declassified: How A Suppressed Version of Marx’s Theory of History Explains Worldly Affairs (2024), is one of the most viewed doctoral works in Canada. It is available here.

My Ph.D. citation reads: “Dr Chilvers’ thesis demonstrated that Karl Marx had two theories of history. It explained why one became famous and the other was suppressed. It also argued that the suppressed theory compels a rethinking of debates about economic development and used it as a framework to help expose a multimillion dollar corporate fraud in India.”

My Ph.D. supervisors were Trevor Barnes, Jim Glassman, and Jamie Peck. Vinay Gidwani was the external supervisor.

I chose the name “Social Formation” for my website because I see multiple economic and cultural forms of production as combining and developing in uneven ways. Marx called these combinations “social formations”, implying that reality is complexly structured.

The name “Social Formation” is also a homage to the Indian Formation research group that I co-organised at the University of Delhi. Its events prompted my early reflections on how modern and traditional forms of production are combined.

I am currently preparing a book for Routledge about issues of economic development and social theory.

I will be publishing materials relating to my study of corporate fraud in India at socialformation.substack.com.

I have published in professional journals, held research grants, and taught university courses on a wide range of topics, including:

+ Development planning
+ Political economy
+ Labour migration
+ Modern day slavery
+ Feudalism and serfdom
+ Global South cities
+ Subaltern studies
+ Peasant studies
+ Colonial history
+ Marxism

I have taught at Quest University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Toronto, Macquarie University, and held honorary appointments at the University of Delhi.

I will be adding more content to my website soon.

A recent photo.

Contact

—

Credit: Black and white photos are by Seamus Murphy and used with permission from the copyright owner, VII Photo.